AG: Bin Laden won't be caught alive

Attorney General Eric Holder told a congressional panel Tuesday that the question of reading Osama bin Laden his Miranda rights is absurd — because he won’t be brought in alive.

“Let’s deal with reality,” Holder said. “You’re talking about a hypothetical that will never occur. The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom. That’s the reality. ... He will be killed by us, or he will be killed by his own people so he’s not captured by us. We know that.”

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Holder’s comments came during a hearing at which Holder and a Republican congressman debated whether bin Laden and notorious killer Charles Manson deserved the same legal rights.

During a House appropriations subcommittee hearing, Holder tried to counter Republican arguments that the administration wanted to stage civilian trials that would give alleged Sept. 11 plotters the same constitutional rights afforded to Americans.

“These defendants charged with murder would be treated just like any other murder defendants,” Holder said with evident exasperation. “The question is: Are they being treated as murderers would be treated? The answer to that question is, yes, they have the same rights that a Charles Manson would have.”

While Holder thought the Manson comparison would make Americans feel more comfortable with the idea of civilian trials for terrorism suspects, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) disagreed and sensed an opening.

“Osama bin Laden, in your opinion, has the same rights as Charles Manson?” Culberson asked.

“In some ways, I think they’re comparable people,” Holder said.

“That’s incredible,” Culberson replied. “The disconnect between this administration and your mind-set is so completely opposite that of where the vast majority of the American people are,” he said, arguing that disagreement with the Obama administration’s terrorism prosecution policy drove the recent victory of Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.).

The hearing was the first opportunity for lawmakers to question Holder publicly since the administration backed away from the attorney general’s plan to try alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City. Despite Holder’s feistiness, he lacked a new plan and said the decision about whether to pick another site for a civilian trial or to revert to a military commission is still up in the air.